50's not so bad!

Wednesday was my 50th birthday and I have to share my celebrations! Prepare for lots of pictures.
It started early with some loving gifts from friends...

things like prune juice, diapers, cold packs and more!


I had to work that day and was serenaded by the residents and given many birthday greetings.

My sister Cheri brought in a pretty bouquet of flowers.

Later that afternoon some flowers were delivered from Andy.


Our church was doing a supper that night for about 160 people. Bob and I were planning to help at it, or so I thought. He told me to be ready when he got home so we could head out as soon as he got ready.
We left, but then drove right past our church. at that point, Bob told me he wanted to surprise me and take me out for supper. He just let me go along thinking we were working, and he was successful in pulling one over on me!
We had a nice supper, and when we were done, he gave me this:

Aren't they beautiful?

Several of our friends had surprise 50th parties and I told my family "no surprise parties for me!"
Instead, they planned out a really nice family day on Saturday.

The first surprise happened on Thursday when Andy came home. It was so nice to have the whole family together for the day.

We started the day on Saturday when Laura picked Heather and I up in the morning. We then went and had a manicure. After that we did some shopping in the cute shops in Holland and had lunch.

Here are Heather and Laura at the restaurant.

We then went back to Laura and Aaron's house, where Aaron, Bob and Andy were waiting. None of them would tell me what else they had planned, so each stop was a surprise.

Our next stop was the Grand Rapids Public Museum. I hadn't been there for several years and it was fun to go through all the exhibits.

Laura and Aaron tried out this little car.

The museum looked beautiful with all the Christmas decorations up. Throughout the different exhibits there were Santa's in different costumes. Bob thought he saw a problem with Santa's list.

One of our favorite exhibits is called Gaslight Village. It's set up like an old town, lit at night. Whenever I go into it, I feel like I'm stepping back in time.

Andy looks like a natural on this bike!

Here is a view on the third floor. There is a clock from a clock tower that used to be in Grand Rapids. There is also a plane hanging behind it that is the only one left of it's kind. It's pretty to look down on the main hall, and see the exhibits and the lights.

The museum has an old carousel that they have restored and have in good working condition.
We had a great time riding it!

Bob

Laura

Aaron and Heather

Andy and me.

The museum has a special exhibit going on called bodies revealed. It was the last thing we looked at and no pictures were allowed. It's been making it's way around the country and will be here until Spring. Seeing the intricate way our bodies are formed and work, again reminded me of how amazing our Creator is!

When we left the museum, we went for supper to a place Laura and Aaron like. It's called Monelli's and if you live in the area you really have to go. (It's near the new Metro health hospital) It's an Italian restaurant, but they do serve some American foods too. It's a beautiful place and the food was fantastic!

Then...as if we hadn't had enough to eat, we went to Laura and Aaron's for dessert.
Laura made me a fabulous birthday cake!

Here is the Triple layer torte she made. Even though I was full from supper, I fit some in. It tasted even better than it looked!
As you can see, I was spoiled on my birthday. The best way to celebrate is by spending it with those you love, and I was blessed by doing just that!

Look what I found in my mailbox

Guess what came in the mail?  This is my invitation to join the American Association of Retired People.  Tuesday is my birthday and I'm turning 49, so, Lord willing, I have a few more years to work before I can think about retiring!

I found a neat site; the dMarie Time Capsule, which lets you put in a date and it will tell you about what was happening then.  Here are a few statistics for November 24, 1960.

People born on November 24

Scott Joplin

Dale Carnegie

Prices for 1960

Bread:  $0.20/loaf
Milk:  $1.04/gal

Eggs:  $0.90/doz

Car:  $2,275

Gas:  $0.31/gal

House:  $18,500

 Stamp:  $0.04/ea

Avg Income:  $6,227/yr

Min Wage:  $1.00/hr

On TV in 1960 

Gunsmoke	Perry Mason	The Twilight Zone
The Flinstones	Bonanza	Leave it to Beaver
I Love Lucy	The Andy Griffith Show	The Ed Sullivan Show
Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Interesting, isn't it?    The cost and wages are what I find most interesting.  Everything looks so much cheaper, but the average income has really changed too.
Hope you've enjoyed this little look back in time!

Happy Birthday Laura!

 Tuesday is my daughter Laura's birthday.  She's my oldest child and she's turning 27 today.
This picture was taken at her wedding, a little over 3 years ago.  I'm having a hard time believing that she is this old; it seems just a few years ago she was that little baby with red hair sticking straight up!
God truly blessed us when he gave us this fun, caring, strong willed girl and we are so thankful for her.
Happy Birthday, Laura!  We love you lots!

Happy Birthday, Laura

November 17 is my oldest daughter Laura's birthday. She is 26 years old and I'm not sure where those years went! It seems such a short time ago that we were being told - "It's a girl", followed by "she has red hair!" I was 21 when she was born and although I thought I knew it all, I really didn't! She says she was our test case. If so - she turned out great! (I must admit, we learned a lot along the way) Somehow she survived having us as parents and has grown into a caring, responsible Christian women. Laura - Dad and I are so proud of you, and we love you lots! Happy Birthday!

Belated birthday

Saturday night we celebrated a very belated birthday for Heather. Her birthday was on Valentines Day and although we had the large family party, we hadn't done an evening with just our family. Heather has been house sitting for the past week, so it was nice to have her home for the evening.

Cleo was happy to see her too!

Here she is opening those late birthday cards.

Although I am teased for always wanting to play games on my Nintendo, here you see Aaron and Laura appearing to enjoy playing it too!
I'm always happy to have the kids home for an evening!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Tuesday was my Dad's 77th birthday. We'll be having a party this weekend, but thought it would be nice to go out for supper with the family tonight to celebrate. There are 4 kids in my family and we were all able to be there. We had plenty to eat and lots of good talk and fun. We got put in a back room and wondered if they thought we were going to be a wild group! (We behaved quite well, although there was a lot of laughing going on!)

Here is my Dad with us 4 kids: (Left to right) Dad, Terri, Duane, Cheri, Me.

I am the oldest, Duane is next, then Terri, then Cheri
Here is the waitress bring my Dad his birthday cake while a group of waitresses were singing.

When we left the restaurant, the sun was setting. This picture really doesn't do it justice. It was a nice way to end the evening.

Weekend Report

We had a nice weekend. Saturday was Bob's birthday. (He turned 49!) We both had to work that day, so I met him after work and we went out for supper. On Sunday, we had Laura and Aaron over for dinner after church. We were celebrating Bob's birthday and Fathers Day, since I will be working next Sunday. Here is a picture of the family around the table (Laura is hidden by Bob). You may be wondering "What is Aaron doing?" If you look closely you will see he has a roll stuffed in his mouth. He is as bad as Bob and Andy when I am trying to get a picture. I warned him that if he didn't behave I would post a picture of him acting up and here you have it! (you know the saying about a girl marrying a man like her father - here is the proof)



Since we were celebrating Bob's special days, I felt I should have a picture of him. As you see, he was also acting up, and making faces at the camera. Look closely in his pocket and you will see his gifts. He has a tool in mind for his woodworking, so he got some cash to put towards it.








We all received some exciting news on Saturday. I got a call from my Dad, to tell me he is getting married again. We are so happy for him. Anne is a real sweetheart who fits well in our family. She teases Dad as much as he teases everyone around him. They don't have a date yet, but we hope it will be soon.